


leaving silent

by izabellwit



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Forgiveness, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loss of Identity, Prompt Fic, alas poor bird, and qrow just hasn't realized yet, but in actuality everything is terrible, in which things seem like they're getting better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 06:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23467249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izabellwit/pseuds/izabellwit
Summary: Fic prompt: Qrow finally forgives Oz... just in time for the merge with Oscar as the dominant personality.
Relationships: Ozpin & Oscar Pine, Qrow Branwen & Ozpin
Comments: 13
Kudos: 139





	leaving silent

**Author's Note:**

> I've been having some major writer's block lately, so I opened up fic prompts at [my tumblr!!](http://izaswritings.tumblr.com) This was the very first entry, haha. (Fic requests are still open btw, if anyone's interested!!)
> 
> Barely edited, so please excuse any funny mistakes, haha.

Qrow drops into the pit with weapon in hand, already swinging.

He barely hears Ruby’s shout, Yang’s cursing; he grits his teeth and ignores it, sticks the landing into the underground tunnel and catches a Grimm with the flat of his blade. They’re everywhere— red-eyes glowing in the dark like neon maraschino cherries— and Qrow falls into the rhythm of the fight as easy as breathing. He slits one Grimm’s throat as he turns, kicks the other away— slams the hilt of his sword down hard on the ground, unlatches the blade and levers the scythe and then cuts. The Grimm screech, wither, and fall apart into shadows and smoke. 

A sound scuffs behind him. Qrow turns sharply on his heel, already swinging—

Sees wide eyes and hastily raised hands, pauses, and drops it. “Kid,” Qrow says gruffly. “Warn me, next time!”

“…My apologies. I thought you knew I was there.”

Qrow blinks, surveys him— and leans back, tapping scythe against the ground, collapsing it back to the smaller sword. Not the kid, then. Oz. “You’re quiet,” he says, for lack of anything else to say. It’d been Oscar who’d first fallen into the pit, Qrow is sure—it's why he jumped down after them— but then, why did they switch? 

Whatever the reason, that’s definitely Oz. It’s a little harder to tell than it used to be, admittedly— for some bizarre reason, Oz seems to have taken on more and more of Oscar’s habits, meaning it’s getting more difficult to tell them apart based on body language alone— but there’s no denying that excessive formality.

Oz looks almost sheepish at Qrow’s comment; he shrugs, and gives him a wan flicker of a smile. “My apologies. The sneaking is… an old habit.”

The ironic almost-joke is— ridiculous, among other things, but despite himself Qrow almost laughs, something like relief twisting in his chest. Oz has been… odd, lately. Drawn. Weary. And Oscar too, tense like he knows something’s being hidden from him, unable to put the feeling into words. It’s been wearing on the whole group, and so it’s something of a relief to see some semblance of Oz’s humor again. Even if Qrow will never admit it.

And there’s an old response to those words, an old joke— _don’t suppose you played ninja in one of your past lives, did you?—_ but Qrow bites it back. “That so,” he says instead, deliberately cold, and when Oz’s smile fades, Qrow turns away instead of wincing. 

“Come on,” he says. The tunnel stretches before them, dark and looming. No doubt there’s numerous Grimm teeming inside, but for the moment their way is clear. Thank gods. “Might as well find ourselves an exit.” 

“...Right.” Oz steps up his side, hands laced behind his back, eyes forward. “Have you heard from the others, yet?”

“No. Comms broke when I fell.” He eyes Oz from the corner of his eyes. “You?”

Oz sighs. “The same, I’m afraid.”

Qrow clicks his tongue and resists the urge to scrub a hand down his face. “Right.”

“I…” The tunnel stretches before them, great and terrible. Something in Oz seems to falter. He smiles and it sits odd on his face—not quite as Qrow remembers it, a sort of half-depreciating crook of the mouth that is more in-line with Oscar rather than Oz. “I am sorry, for this.”

“For what?” But Qrow knows what he means—the whole reason they got separated in the first place, Oz and Oscar being tackled off a ledge by a Grimm and Qrow jumping in after to help. “It doesn’t matter.”

“No, I… I suppose not. But still. Thank you.”

Oz sounds sincere. Qrow looks away. He rubs a hand through his hair, curling rough nails into the short hair at the nape of his neck; the prickle prick of pain is soothing, almost grounding. He stares forward into the darkness and thinks. It’s been awhile, he realizes suddenly. Since Mistral, since Argus, since— everything. It’s been months. Almost a year. 

The kids have forgiven Oz. Or rather—they have come to forgive him, in little ways, with every instant that Oz proves he’s trying, or that he’s trusting him, or that he’s telling the truth. In that regard Qrow knows he’s fallen behind—still sour where everyone else smiles, cold where everyone else attempts welcome. 

So it would be easy to brush it off. To hit back, and keep this balance they’ve maintained—working together, but not friends, never again. But Qrow stares out into the dark and thinks—he’s tired.

(And despite literally _fucking everything,_ Qrow kind of missed him.) 

So he says, instead: “Well, whatever. What are friends for?”

He keeps on walking, even though he can tell Oz has stopped, and refuses to look back. At his back, Oz says, “Friends.”

Qrow does, actually, scowl at him for that. “I’m not repeating that.”

“Right.” Oz ducks his head. “Right.” He’s smiling. 

Qrow turns away too, and refuses to smile back. But something in him has eased. It feels a little lighter. A little easier. He sighs and closes his eyes, rubbing at his temple, and it feels as though something has finally settled. 

God, he wants a drink. 

“Though I hope not all my friends would jump down a dark and spooky tunnel at the drop of a hat,” Oz says then, suddenly and thoughtfully, and Qrow laughs despite himself. 

“Hey, you fell down here first.”

Oz actually makes a face at that. It’s bizarre. “Well,” he says, and almost sounds put-out. “Not on _purpose.”_

“Right,” Qrow says, amused, and shakes his head. How strange— how easy this is. In a way it’s like they’ve never fought at all. It’s… hah, it’s not like Oz at all. He’s always been the type to dwell on things.

Hasn’t he?

“You’re sounding more and more like Oscar every day,” Qrow adds absently, and shakes his head with a laugh, keeps walking. He doesn’t look back. He doesn’t see the way Oz’s smile falters and fades, the way he goes quiet. He doesn’t see the way Oz’s face twists, momentarily pained. 

Oz watches Qrow walk on down the tunnel, and says nothing. He stays still, steady, and links his hands behind his back to hide their shaking. He stands there like nothing is wrong and all is well, and in the back of their shared mind, a voice shouts and screams and swears, Oscar fighting their fate like words alone can keep them both alive.

“Yes,” Oz says, quiet. When Qrow looks back, he’s smiling again. “Yes. I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ozpin is in control because he's Leaving Real Soon and Oscar just found out and is panicking, and yes, this _is_ why they slipped up and fell into the pit during the fight. Oz has the worst timing. 
> 
> [If you wanna rec this fic, you can reblog it here!!](https://izaswritings.tumblr.com/post/614410518016475136/fic-prompt-qrow-finally-forgives-oz-just-in) Also, if you have any questions or just want to talk, [my tumblr](http://izaswritings.tumblr.com) is always open!!
> 
> Any thoughts?


End file.
